Method and apparatus for Internet TV

ABSTRACT

A telephone interface and voice recognition driven Internet browser system and method for accessing/browsing the Internet or other remote computing services on a cable or satellite television includes a phone for receiving a voice signal from a user. The voice signal controls a telephone interface, which displays Internet contents or other computing services on the television via a cable or satellite television channel/media. The system also includes a voice recognizer, preferably operated on a supercomputer or located in the phone, for recognizing/interpreting/analyzing a plurality of voice signals and generating command signals to access/browse the Internet or other computer services. The voice recognizer is capable of recognizing/interpreting/analyzing voice signals transmitted from a plurality of users in real time. The system further includes a stack of computers and an Internet browser. Each of the stack of computers is capable of accessing/browsing the Internet and retrieving/organizing requested Internet contents via the Internet browser. The requested Internet contents are sent to the user via a cable or satellite television channel/media with a frame grabber, an intelligent router, or a pre-downloaded system.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation-In-Part application of U.S. patentapplication, U.S. Ser. No. 09/686,114, filed on Oct. 11, 2000, entitled“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERNET TV”, by David Kunin, SergeyTolkachev, Robert Freidson, and Boaz Vinogradov; which claims thebenefit of Provisional Application, U.S. Ser. No. 60/167,505, filed onNov. 24, 1999, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERNET TV”, by DavidKunin, Sergey Tolkachev, Robert Freidson, and Boaz Vinogradov.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a remote-controlled television Internetsystem and method, and more particularly, to a telephone interface andvoice recognition driven Internet browser system and method for Internetaccessing and browsing as well as other remote computing services on acable or satellite television.

2. Description of Related Art

In entering into the twenty-first century, Internet business ore-commerce has become one of the largest industries and continues itsgrowth exponentially. Many people's daily lives are closely related tothe Internet business and are significantly impacted by the Internettechnology's evolution and revolution. More and more people have usedthe Internet and even accessed/browsed the Internet in their dailylives, whether for work, entertainment, shopping, or education, etc. TheInternet is creating a new economy, which is competing with people'straditional way of living.

Like many other new technology, Internet technology is facing manychallenges and problems, particularly when Internet technology ispenetrating into the general public. One of the main problems is thatInternet accessing/browsing often requires one to know how to use apersonal computer. At present, still the majority of the general publicis not computer literate or may not care to be computer literate. Manypeople have found that a personal computer is clumsy, expensive tomaintain and/or upgrade, and often not reliable. As a result, manypeople still avoid using a personal computer.

Further, even if one uses a personal computer, to access/browse theInternet is often problematic. For example, the Internet connectionbetween a computer and Internet providers is often denied during a peaktime, and the Internet connection is generally very slow inuploading/downloading Internet information. People have to pay much moremonthly fees to obtain a relatively higher speed access to the Internet.Such fees put the access to the Internet out of reach of most people.

In addition, a personal computer is usually used for a lot of differentapplications, such as word processing, imaging designing, networking,email, Internet accessing/browsing web sites, etc. These applicationsand the computer itself are co-existed and generally operated by acomplicated software operating system, thereby significantly slowingdown the operations of the applications. The more applications areoperated by an operating system, the slower the operation speed is. Thissignificantly slows down the performance of the Internetaccessing/browsing. The operation overhead of most personal computers isnot optimized for advanced Internet performance like streaming video orother high volume data transmission applications.

Also, a personal computer does not provide a comfortable setting forpeople to surf the Internet for entertainment, shopping, education, etc.As a result, many people, even if they own a personal computer, havebeen looking for other alternatives to access the Internet.

Some recent Internet technology has demonstrated its ability toaccess/browse the Internet without a personal computer by using newtypes of devices broadly called “information appliance”—essentially,they are digital gadgets of various sizes and shapes, which arededicated to surfing the Internet. Some devices resemble cable TV boxes,and some others look like small laptops, mobile phones, etc. Somedevices are used to surf the Internet and access e-mails, and someothers are strictly used to surf the Internet. While people have savedmoney from buying a personal computer, they are forced to purchase aswell as maintain a new line of “information appliance” for differentpurposes. Furthermore, these new devices are basically small sizedcomputers for different specific purposes. However, many people stillare not interested in buying a new device just to surf the Internet.

The general public is used to conventional devices, such as televisions,phones, etc. Also, the majority of the general public has already ownedthese conventional devices. They are easy to operate and relativelyreliable in performance. Therefore, there is a desire for the generalpublic to access/browse the Internet via these conventional deviceswithout using a personal computer, or other hardware equipment, such asmodem, “information appliance”, etc. Just like many people have quitbuying an answering machine for storing phone messages—instead, using a“hardware-less” voice messaging service—, there is a need to have a“hardware-less” Internet service to access/browse the Internet viaconventional televisions and phones.

Most of the homes or offices have recently been wired for cablebroadcast, which may hook to a set top box and a cable ready television,or wired for a satellite receiver to receive multiple televisionchannels. It is desirable to use the existing cable wiring or satellitereceiver to receive Internet information. More importantly, cables orsatellite channels have much wider bandwidth to serve the general publicthan phone lines which computers are generally connected to. It isdesirable to use the existing wide band cable or satellite systems toreceive volumetric Internet information, such as streaming video, etc.

Internet TVs were proposed several years ago. Internet TVs were proposedto provide people the possibility of obtaining Internet access at alocation, such as at home, by using only a regular cable TV set and aneasy-to-use control device, such as a phone. For example, a concept of atelephone remote-controlled cable television Internet was onceintroduced, in which button keys of a push button-type telephone at acable television subscriber's end are used to simulate functions of acomputer mouse or a computer keyboard to remote-control, via a telephonenetwork, an Internet main unit at a cable television provider's end, soas to acquire Internet resources around the world.

However, the proposed Internet TVs are very primitive and immature. Dueto the communication channel band limitation, the proposed Internet TVscannot serve multiple users or a large amount of users at the same time.In addition, there are privacy or other security concerns, which havenot been addressed, in the proposed Internet TVs. Further, the pushbutton-type telephone interface is not user-friendly. People are notused to relate the button keys or their corresponding English letters ona telephone to the represented functions or modes. Also, differenttelephones may have a different arrangement for the button keys. Thesemake surfing the Internet very time consuming and uncomfortable.Furthermore, the button keys on a telephone may malfunction after aperiod of use. Moreover, quite a few people are still using conventionalrotary telephones, which do not have push button keys.

The Internet TVs were proposed to allow a user to surf the Internet onTV. However, the proposed Internet TVs mainly provide a bridge betweenthe Internet URL sources and the cable TV systems by stream downloadingwhatever the URL sources present. Users may not very easily browseInternet contents to find what they are looking for because thestream-downloaded Internet contents are merely related to certain URLsources or destinations. Many users have wasted a lot of time in lookingfor URL sources and/or in browsing Internet contents. Users often desireassistance in an interactive manner to not only find a URL source forcertain Internet contents, but also have a user-friendly interface tofind the URL source and go through the Internet contents. Also, theusers would often like to organize Internet contents in a specificfashion.

It is with respect to these or other considerations that the presentinvention has been made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above, and toovercome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading andunderstanding the present specification, the present invention disclosesa telephone controlled cable or satellite television Internet system andmethod and remote computing service systems and methods.

The present invention solves the above-described problems by using atelephone interface and voice recognition driven Internet browser systemand method for Internet accessing/browsing on a cable or satellitetelevision. One of the cable or satellite channels is designated for theInternet accessing/browsing.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a system foraccessing/browsing the Internet on a cable or satellite television,includes: a phone for receiving a voice signal from a user, the voicesignal controlling an Internet interface which displays Internet contenton the television via a cable or satellite channel; a voice recognizer,operated on a supercomputer or other computer platforms (e.g. CPUplatforms), recognizing/interpreting/analyzing the voice signal andgenerating command signals to access/browse the Internet, the voicerecognizer being capable of simultaneously recognizing voice signalstransmitted from a plurality of users and generating command signals foraccessing/browsing the Internet; and a stack of computers (or likedevices optimized for Internet accessing/browsing) and an Internetbrowser, each of the stack of computers, based on the command signalsfrom the voice recognizer, accessing/browsing the Internet andretrieving/organizing Internet content via the Internet browser, theInternet content being sent to the cable or satellite television viacable or satellite media.

Further in one embodiment of the present invention, the voice recognizeroperated on the supercomputer or other computer platforms is disposed ina phone switching network. In another embodiment, the voice recognizeroperated on the supercomputer or other computer platforms is disposed ina cable or satellite system. In a further embodiment, the voicerecognizer can be installed in a phone or any other parts of the system.

Still in one embodiment of the present invention, the accessed, browsed,or organized Internet content is presented on the cable or satellitetelevision and interactive with the user's voice signal.

Additional in one embodiment of the present invention, the cable orsatellite television further includes a set top box/filter havingidentification. If an identification of the phone does not match withthe identification of the set top box/filter, the Internet content isfiltered out. If the identification of the phone matches with theidentification of the set top box/filter, the Internet content ispresented on the television.

Yet in one embodiment of the present invention, the cable or satellitetelevision further includes a frame grabber device for locallyrefreshing the content of the Internet information presented on thetelevision until a subsequent request being made by a user via thephone.

Yet in one embodiment of the present invention, the voice signal mayinclude a plurality of instructions of accessing/browsing the Internetcontent, and/or a plurality of menu instructions, such as “go back” tothe previous frame, “go to” the main page, etc.

Still in one embodiment of the present invention, the phone switchingnetwork is coupled to a plurality of users' phones for routingcorresponding plurality of voice signals from the plurality of users tothe voice recognizer for recognizing/interpreting/analyzing thecorresponding voice signals and generating command signals toaccess/browse the Internet on the cable or satellite system. The systemincludes at least one Internet browser. The Internet browser can be runon a computer or a stack of computers, for accessing, browsing, and/ororganizing Internet contents based on the command signals from the voicerecognizer and presenting accessed, browsed, and/or organized Internetcontents or user instructions from the cable or satellite system to thecable or satellite television.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method ofaccessing/browsing the Internet via a cable or satellite televisionincludes: receiving a voice signal from a user, the voice signalcontrolling an Internet interface which displays the Internet content onthe cable or satellite television via a cable or satellite channel;routing the voice signal to a voice recognizer;recognizing/interpreting/analyzing the voice signal and generatingcommand signals to access/browse the Internet contents on a cable orsatellite system by a supercomputer, the voice recognizer being capableof simultaneously recognizing/interpreting/analyzing a plurality ofvoice signals transmitted from a plurality of users and generating thecommand signals for accessing/browsing the Internet; accessing,browsing, and/or organizing Internet contents based on the commandsignals from the voice recognizer; and presenting accessed, browsed,and/or organized Internet content from the cable or satellite system tothe cable or satellite television via a cable or satellite channel ormedium.

Additionally in one embodiment, the method further includes the step ofreceiving a second voice signal, which is interactive to the Internetcontent presented on the cable or satellite television.

Further in one embodiment of the present invention, the operation of thevoice recognizer on the supercomputer is in the phone switching network.In an alternative embodiment, the operation of the voice recognizer onthe supercomputer is in the cable or satellite system.

Still in one embodiment of the present invention, the method furtherincludes the step of filtering out the signals received from the cableor satellite channel if an identification of the phone does not matchwith an identification of a filter, and passing through the signals ifthe identification of the phone matches with the identification of thefilter.

Yet in one embodiment of the present invention, the method furtherincludes the step of locally refreshing the content of the Internetinformation presented on the television until a subsequent request beingmade by a user via the phone.

Additionally in one embodiment of the present invention, the methodfurther includes the step of downloading information, such as movies,music, or other services, etc., at a local site, e.g. at the set top boxof the television or the like, for a user to make subsequent uses.

The present invention provides a system capable of uploading voicesignals via a narrowband wire or medium, such as a phone line or a dataport line (or referred to as the smaller wire), and downloading theInternet information via a broadband wire or medium, such as cables orsatellite receiver (or referred to as the larger wire). The larger wireis well suited to receive a large amount of data efficiently.Accordingly, the present invention uses voice recognition to upload arequest via a telephone wire and download the requested data via a cableor satellite channel.

One advantage of the present invention is that it provides a userfriendly interface such that a user does not have to be a computerliterate to access/browse the Internet. Also, a computer does not haveto be maintained and/or upgraded on an individual user basis.

These and various other advantages and features of novelty whichcharacterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in theclaims annexed hereto and form a part hereof. However, for a betterunderstanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtainedby its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form afurther part hereof, and to accompanying descriptive matter, in whichthere are illustrated and described specific examples of an apparatus inaccordance with the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers representcorresponding parts throughout:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a system foraccessing/browsing the Internet via a cable television in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of a telephoneinterface and a voice recognition driven Internet browser system forInternet accessing/browsing on a cable television in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of the telephoneinterface and voice recognition driven Internet browser systemimplemented for a plurality of users to access/browse the Internet ontheir respective cable televisions in accordance with the principles ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates one implementation of an operational flow of a methodof a telephone interface and voice recognition driven accessing/browsingInternet contents on a cable television in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates one implementation of an operational flow of a voicerecognition driven Internet browsing system in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the following description of the exemplary embodiment, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in whichit is shown by way of illustration the specific embodiment in which theinvention may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized as structural changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

The present invention discloses a telephone controlled televisionInternet system and method and remote computing service systems andmethods. The present invention uses a telephone interface and voicerecognition driven Internet browser system and method for Internetaccessing/browsing on a cable or satellite television.

It is appreciated that the present invention is not limited to anembodiment of an Internet TV system where a transmitting device is atelephone, and a receiving device is a television via a cable orsatellite channel or medium. The present invention applies to many otherembodiments and/or configurations of an Internet TV system where atransmitting device can be any types of voice related devices, such as atouch tone phone, a rotary phone, a cell phone, a voice conferencephone, a headset phone, etc., and a receiving device can be any types ofviewing devices, such as a television, a portable personal communicationdevice, e.g. a palm pilot, or a receiving screen mounted in a vehicle,etc. The media for transmitting or broadcasting high volume information,such as streaming video, etc., can be any types of media, such as fiberor copper cables, satellites, or other broadcasting media, etc.

As an example, a system and method of accessing/browsing the Internetvia a cable environment and a cable ready television are discussedbelow. It is appreciated that the system and method ofaccessing/browsing the Internet via a satellite television or any otherbroad band receivers can be implemented within the scope of the presentinvention.

In FIG. 1, a telephone controlled cable television Internet system 100is illustrated. A user's request for accessing/browsing the Internet orother menu instructions are keyed-in via a phone 102 with unique calleridentification (ID). Such request and caller ID are routed to a phoneswitching network 104 or referred to as a phone hub, such as a PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN) or a Private Switched TelephoneNetwork, etc. The request and caller ID are processed and sent to acable TV network 106 or referred to as a cable hub system. The cable TVnetwork 106 includes a stack of computers or CPUs as shown in FIGS. 2-3,each of which can be used to access/browse the Internet via an Internetbrowser. The stack of computers or CPUs can be arranged and configuredto receive and process a number of command signals corresponding tousers' requests. It is appreciated to a person skilled in the art thatthe capability of a computer would allow the stack of computers toprocess essentially a virtual amount of requests in real time. Computerscan be upgraded or replaced at the cable TV network end 106 as opposedto at a user end. Accordingly, one of the advantages of the presentinvention is that a user does not have to be computer literate and/ormaintain/upgrade a computer on an individual user basis.

The stack of computers access/browse the Internet 107 based on therespective command signals, and retrieve/organize the Internet contentsand/or telephone interface command menu based on the Internet browser.The signals carrying the Internet contents and ID are then sent to cablesubscribers to be viewed on a cable TV 108 via cable media 124. Thecable TV 108 is coupled to a cable box 110, which includes a filter 131(in FIG. 2). The filter filters out the Internet contents if the ID ofthe phone does not match with an identification of the filter (in FIG.2). Thus, only the requester's television displays the requestedcontents and/or telephone interface command menu.

The cable box 110 also includes a frame grabber 132, which locallyrefreshes the Internet contents and/or telephone interface command menuuntil a subsequent request is made. The Internet contents and/ortelephone interface command menu are presented on the cable TV to beviewed by the user.

Since the speed of making the subsequent request is much slower than thespeed of cable TV transmission, the real time use of an Internetdesignated cable channel is significantly reduced. Accordingly, avirtual number of users can subscribe to such Internet designated cablechannel without losing privacy of Internet contents that each of theuser's is viewing. It will be appreciated that the Internet browser iscustomized and is interactive between the requester and the contentsdisplayed.

The phone 102 is preferably coupled to a voice recognizer 114 (in FIG.2) such that the requester may simply make a request by talking to thephone 102 without the necessity of entering keys or buttons on thephone. It is appreciated that the phone can be in a variety of forms,for example, a touch tone phone, a rotary phone, a cellular phone, amobile phone, a speaker phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) phone,etc. It is also appreciated that the requester sometimes may merely makea request by entering the keys or buttons on the phone. It is furtherappreciated that other types of control devices can be used incombination of the phone within the scope of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, a telephone interface and voice recognition driven Internetbrowser system 112 for Internet accessing/browsing on the cable TV 108is illustrated. The phone 102 receives voice signals from a user orrequester. The voice signals control display content, for example, theInternet contents and/or other telephone interface command/instructionmenus, on the cable TV 108 via cable media or channels. The phoneswitching network or phone hub 104 is coupled to the phone 102 via aswitch unit 105 for routing the voice signals to the voice recognizer114. The voice recognizer 114 recognizes/interprets/analyzes the voicesignals and generates command signals to access/browse the Internet. Thevoice recognizer 114 may be operated on a phone hub computer 116, forexample, a supercomputer, such that the voice recognizer 114 is capableof simultaneously recognizing a plurality of voice signals transmittedfrom a plurality of users or requesters and generating a plurality ofcommand signals to access/browse the Internet. The supercomputer may bedefined as a computer having a calculating speed of at least 1 billiontimes per second. The phone hub computer 116 can be implemented in manyother computer platforms, e.g. CPU platforms, etc. It is appreciatedthat any other fast computer, such as parallel-processing computers, maybe used within the scope of the present invention. Also, it isappreciated that the present invention does not limit to operating thevoice recognizer 114 on a computer. The voice recognizer 114 may beoperated on a voice card with DSP (Digital Signal Processing) and AgTwith a memory, etc.

The command signals are then sent to the cable system 106. It isappreciated that the computer 116, which operates the voice recognizer114, may also be implemented in the cable system 106 within the scope ofthe present invention.

In FIG. 2, the cable system 106 includes a cable hub computer or CPU 118to access/browse the Internet 107. An Internet browser 120 is run on thecable hub computer or CPU 118 to retrieve/organize Internet contentsfrom the Internet 107. The cable system 106 also includes a stack ofcomputers or CPUs 122, each of which is operable with the cable hubcomputer or CPU 118 to access, browse, and/or organize the Internetcontents and/or telephone interface command menu. It is appreciated thatthe Internet browser 120 may be run on the stack of computers or CPUs122 directly to access, browse, and/or organize the Internet contentsand/or telephone interface command menu to be subsequently presented onthe respective cable TV 108. It is also appreciated that the voicerecognizer 114 can be installed in any part of the system, for example,in the phone 102, on the CPU stacks 122, or on a remote networkcomputer, within the scope of the present invention. It is furtherappreciated that Internet contents can be organized at Internetproviders' site with a format comparable to the Internet browser 120 andpresentable on a television or the like, such that the user is able tobrowse the contents in a standardized user friendly fashion.

In FIG. 2, the cable system 106 may also include a data storage unit 126for storing data or information, such as previously retrieved/organizedInternet contents, telephone interface menu, etc. Accordingly, if theuser only makes a request with a minor change to the previous Internetcontents and/or telephone interface menu, the data or information storedin the data storage unit 106 may be used without the necessity ofre-retrieving/re-organizing the Internet contents, thereby increasingthe speed for processing the request.

In FIG. 2, the cable system 106 includes an Internet Service Provider(ISP) 28 or referred to as Cable/Internet Service Provider. The ISP 128routes the cable signals to the cable box 110 of cable user/subscriber130 via cable media or channel 124. The cable signals are received bythe intended user 130, via a filter 131. The filter 131 preferably has apredetermined identification. If the predetermined identification of thefilter 131 matches with the phone ID carried with the cable signals, thefilter 131 allows the cable signals to be presented on the respective TV108. If the phone ID does not match with the ID of the filter 131, thefilter 131 filters out the cable signals downloaded from the channel124. Accordingly, the other cable TV subscribers will not be able toview the requester/subscriber's Internet contents and/or telephoneinterface menu on their TVs 108. Thus, each user can have essentiallyhis/her own Internet TV channel without losing privacy in viewinghis/her individually requested Internet contents.

Further, the cable box 110 includes the frame grabber 132. The framegrabber 132 is used to locally refresh the Internet contents and/ortelephone interface menu displayed on the user television until asubsequent request is made to change the Internet contents. Since thechanges from one Internet content frame to the next Internet contentframe are generally small and made in slow speed, e.g. one's speakingspeed, the system can be adapted to be used by a virtual number ofusers, as opposed to a limited number of users in a typicalvideo-on-demand circuit system. It is also noted that the ISP may be apart of a cable operator (not shown) without departing from the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates the telephone interface and voice recognition drivenInternet browser system 112 implemented for a plurality ofusers/subscribers 130 to access/browse the Internet on their respectiveTVs 108 in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Itis appreciated that the system may include an intelligent router to senda subscriber requested Internet contents directly to that subscriberwithout broadcasting the requested Internet contents to all of the othersubscribers before filtering out.

FIG. 4 illustrates one implementation of an operational flow 134 of amethod of telephone interface and voice recognition drivenaccessing/browsing Internet contents on a cable TV in accordance withthe principles of the present invention. The operational flow 134 startswith user requesting via a phone in an operation 135. The voice signalsof the user are received and are used to control the display on theuser's cable TV in an operation 136. Then, the voice signals arerecognized/interpreted/analyzed at the voice recognizer, which may berun on a supercomputer in an operation 138. The voice recognizergenerates command signals corresponding to the voice signals toaccess/browse the Internet. Next, the Internet contents are accessed,browsed, and/or organized based on the command signals from the voicerecognizer in an operation 140. Then, the data or information, such asthe Internet contents and/or telephone interface menu, are processed andpresented on the user's cable TV via cable media/cable box in anoperation 142. The user may make a further request to interact with thedata or information presented on the cable TV in the operation 135. Itis appreciated that the operational flow 134 may terminate, pause, orcontinue at any time by the user. It is also appreciated that theoperational flow 134 may include a timing function to ensure that theoperational flow 134 will be terminated if the user does not pause orcontinue the operation 135 within a predetermined period of time.

It is appreciated that the telephone interface command menu can be in avariety of forms. The interface may include commands such as edit, exit,show previous, show next, etc.

FIG. 5 illustrates one implementation of an operational flow of a voicerecognition driven Internet browsing system in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention. A voice signal is input into avoice recognition system 144, which recognizes the voice signal andgenerates a text. The text is then input into a natural languagerepresentation system 146 to be interpreted, and then into a semanticnatural language knowledge representation system 148 to be analyzed. Thenatural language representation system and the semantic natural languagerepresentation system are often referred to as a voice recognitionsystem, which are able to translate from a stream of sounds into astream of words. The words are then interpreted by an expert system,such as a natural language processor or a neural network processor, tocreate semantic network support, a knowledge representation system, orsome other stream of command signals and/or text. The command signalsare used to access/browse the Internet via an Internet browser 150. Theresulting information is sent to an identified receiver 154 via cableboxes, satellite receiver, or other similar broadcasting devices 152.

It is noted that the voice recognition system can be implemented inconjunction with a control device. It is also noted that the presentinvention may be operated with or without the voice recognition system.In one embodiment, the control device drives a stream of commands to astack of computer processors, a supercomputer, or the like. The controldevice may be a mouse, keyboard, joystick, or simple play station typedevice, television remote control, or the keypad of the phone, inaddition to controls that are driven through a voice recognitionconfiguration.

It is further noted that a phone line or voice line can be implementedin conjunction with a cable line or satellite signal wave. In oneembodiment, phone lines or voice lines can be configured and arranged asa part of a cable or satellite hookup to a home or other receivingdestinations.

In addition, the Internet TV system of the present invention can be usedin association with a security system, which is based on individualcharacteristics of each user's voice. Voice is as individual as afingerprint. The voice recognizer can be arranged or configured toscreen out other voices or noises received at the voice recognizer, suchas ambient noise, or to only recognize/interpret/analyze a specificuser's voice profile in performing a specific Internet browsing request.For example, a teen may not be able to request a certain Internetbrowsing requests, etc., while parents' voice profiles would be acceptedfor these requests.

It is further noted that in the present invention, computers,supercomputer, or stacks of computers, which are used to process a voicemode or other modes of instruction request, are provided to the users asa service. They are generally located in a remote site from a user'stransmitting or control device. One advantage of this is that users donot have to purchase upgraded computers or other “information appliance”every time when there is an advance or improvement in computingtechnology that improves processing functionality. The processingfunctionality can be added to the system by upgrading the service to theusers without disrupting their current service or forcing them to buynew equipment. Further, it is appreciated that processing power of thesecomputers can be used for other types of personal computing functions. Aremote personal computer type service can be offered on the presentsystem as well as Internet access as described above. For example, aword processor or a database management program can be offered as aservice on the present system, as opposed to a product that a user oftenhas to buy. These services can be offered to a user in a similar fashionas a voice messaging service offered by telephone companies.

It is also appreciated that the services offered the Internet can bedownloaded at a local site, e.g. at a set top box of the television,etc., for a user to make subsequent uses. This is similar to the moviemenu services offered in hotels.

Further, instead of a frame grabber as described above, an intelligentrouter can be implemented within the scope of the present invention.Typically, a frame grabber can be used to refresh a static image or lowspeed video clips, whereas an intelligent router can be used fortransmitting high speed streaming video type of data. One way ofdescribing the difference of the two is to introduce the processes ofaddressing packets of information, reading and routing the packages aswell as opening the package envelopes. In the case of a frame grabber, afull address of packages of information is read at an individualrecipient or local site, and a static image is refreshed on a screen atthat location until a new packet is opened up to replace it. In the caseof an intelligent router, a partial address read at trunks or branchesof a media system, e.g. a cable system, allows for package delivery in amore sophisticated way and thereby creating enough capacity to providestreaming video to an individual recipient or local site at, e.g.thirty-two new frame packages of information per second. An alternativeway of providing such capacity may be to create a massive number of newchannels, one for each specific household or user, which reliessignificantly on advancement of channel bandwidth technology.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a system in which voice andan instruction stream come from a control device in a user's locationand are sent upstream to a computer or a stack of computers at a remotesite. In the case of voice, a translation is made from sounds to astream of text and processing commands. A stack of computers processrequested functions upon receiving the commands, for example,accessing/browsing the Internet interface and/or performing othercomputing functions. The requested information is then displayed on atelevision type of receiving device. The present system is arranged andconfigured in a loop between the control device at a local site, such ashome, where requests are sent to a computer at a remote site via anarrowband medium, such as a phone line, and a display at the local sitefor displaying requested information from the computer via a broadbandmedium, such as a cable or satellite channel or medium.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiment of the inventionhas been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. Itis not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of theinvention be limited not with this detailed description, but rather bythe claims appended hereto.

1. A system for accessing/browsing the Internet on a television,comprising: a phone for receiving a voice signal from a user, the voicesignal controlling a television display, which is capable of displayingInternet contents via a television channel; a voice recognizer forrecognizing/interpreting/analyzing the voice signal and generating acommand signal, the voice recognizer being capable ofrecognizing/interpreting/analyzing voice signals transmitted from aplurality of users; an Internet browser for accessing/browsing theInternet and retrieving/organizing requested Internet contents; and astack of computers, each of the stack of computers operable toaccess/browse the Internet and retrieve/organize requested Internetcontents based on the command signal and the requested Internet contentsbeing sent from at least one of the stack of computers to the televisionvia the television channel.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein thetelevision channel is a cable television channel.
 3. The system of claim1, wherein the television channel is a satellite television channel. 4.The system of claim 1, further comprising a filter having anidentification, wherein the phone has an identification, if theidentification of the phone does not match with the identification ofthe filter, the filter filters out the requested Internet contents, andif the identification of the phone matches with the identification ofthe filter, the filter lets the requested Internet contents pass throughsuch that the requested Internet contents are displayed on thetelevision.
 5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a framegrabber, the frame grabber locally refreshes the Internet contents onthe television until a subsequent user request being made.
 6. The systemof claim 1, further comprising a frame grabber, the frame grabberlocally refreshes the Internet contents on the television for a periodof time.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the voice recognizer isoperated by a supercomputer coupled to a phone switching network.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the stack of computers and the Internetbrowser are disposed in a cable system.
 9. The system of claim 7,wherein the phone switching network is coupled to a plurality of phonesfor routing corresponding voice signals from the plurality of users tothe voice recognizer for recognizing/interpreting/analyzing thecorresponding voice signal and generating command signals toaccess/browse the Internet.
 10. A method of accessing/browsing theInternet on a television, comprising: receiving a voice signal from auser, the voice signal controlling a television display, which iscapable of displaying, requested Internet contents via a televisionchannel; routing the voice signal to a voice recognizer;recognizing/interpreting/analyzing the voice signal and generatingcommand signals, the voice recognizer being capable ofrecognizing/interpreting/analyzing voice signals transmitted from aplurality of users; accessing/browsing the requested Internet contents;and presenting accessed/browsed Internet contents on the television viathe television channel.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein thetelevision channel is a cable television channel.
 12. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the television channel is a satellite televisionchannel.
 13. The method of claim 10, further comprising filtering outthe requested Internet contents by a filter if an identification of thephone does not match with an identification of the filter, the filterletting the requested Internet contents pass through if theidentification of the phone matches with the identification of thefilter.
 14. The method of claim 10, further comprising locallyrefreshing the Internet contents on the television until a subsequentuser request being made.
 15. The method of claim 10, further comprisinglocally refreshing the Internet contents on the television for a periodof time.
 16. A computer program storage medium readable by a computingsystem and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing acomputer process for accessing/browsing the Internet on a television,the computer process comprising: receiving a voice signal from a user,the voice signal controlling a television display, which is capable ofdisplaying, requested Internet contents via a television channel;routing the voice signal to a voice recognizer;recognizing/interpreting/analyzing the voice signal and generatingcommand signals, the voice recognizer being capable ofrecognizing/interpreting/analyzing voice signals transmitted from aplurality of users; accessing/browsing the requested Internet contents;and presenting accessed/browsed Internet contents on the television viathe television channel.
 17. A computer data signal embodied in a carrierwave readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program ofinstructions for executing a computer process for accessing/browsing theInternet on a television, the computer process comprising: receiving avoice signal from a user, the voice signal controlling a televisiondisplay, which is capable of displaying, requested Internet contents viaa television channel; routing the voice signal to a voice recognizer;recognizing/interpreting/analyzing the voice signal and generatingcommand signals, the voice recognizer being capable ofrecognizing/interpreting/analyzing voice signals transmitted from aplurality of users; accessing/browsing the requested Internet contents;and presenting accessed/browsed Internet contents on the television viathe television channel.
 18. A system for requesting Internetaccess/browsing via a narrowband medium and displaying requestedinformation via a broadband medium, comprising: a control device foruploading a user's request via the narrowband medium; a stack ofcomputers for receiving and processing the user's request from thecontrol device, each of the stack of computers operable to access/browsethe Internet and retrieve Internet contents based on the user's request;an Internet browser, operated by at least one of the computers, beingarranged and configured to access/browse the Internet and retrieve therequested Internet contents; and a receiving device for receiving anddisplaying the Internet contents from the stack of computers, theInternet contents being downloaded to the receiving device via thebroadband medium.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the narrowbandmedium includes a phone line.
 20. The system of claim 18, wherein thebroadband medium includes a cable line.
 21. The system of claim 18,wherein the broadband medium includes a satellite signal wave.
 22. Thesystem of claim 18, wherein the control device includes a phone, and thereceiving device includes a television.
 23. A system for requesting acomputing service provided at a remote site via a narrowband medium anddisplaying requested computing service at a local site via a broadbandmedium, comprising: a control device for uploading the computing servicerequest via the narrowband medium, the control device being located atthe local site; a computer for receiving and processing the computingservice request from the control device; and a receiving device forreceiving and displaying a processed result from the computer, theprocessed result being downloaded to the receiving device via thebroadband medium.
 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the narrowbandmedium includes a phone line.
 25. The system of claim 23, wherein thebroadband medium includes a cable line.
 26. The system of claim 23,wherein the broadband medium includes a satellite wave.
 27. The systemof claim 23, wherein the control device includes a phone, and thereceiving device includes a television.